The New York Times bestselling and Booker Prize–winning novel about an Indian family in tragic decline that introduced the world to the voice of Arundhati Roy Likened to the works of Faulkner and Dickens when it was first published twenty years ago, this extraordinarily accomplished debut novel is a brilliantly plotted story of forbidden love and piercing political drama, centered on the tragic decline of an Indian family in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family—their lonely, lovely mother Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist’s moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts). When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that things can change in a day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.

An Electric Literature Pick of Books about the Connection between Twins

The New York Times bestselling and Booker Prize–winning novel about an Indian family in tragic decline that introduced the world to the voice of Arundhati Roy

Likened to the works of Faulkner and Dickens when it was first published twenty years ago, this extraordinarily accomplished debut novel is a brilliantly plotted story of forbidden love and piercing political drama, centered on the tragic decline of an Indian family in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family—their lonely, lovely mother Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist’s moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).

When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that things can change in a day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

“A novel of real ambition must invent its own language, and this one does.” —New Yorker

“Outstanding. A glowing first novel.” —Newsweek

“Dazzling…As subtle as it is powerful.” —New York Times

“Offers such magic, mystery, and sadness that, literally, this reader turned the last page and decided to reread it. Immediately. It’s that hauntingly wonderful.” —USA Today

“Splendid and stunning.” —Washington Post Book World

“Roy conjures a whoosh of wordplay that rises from the pages like a brilliant jazz improvisation…At once exotic and familiar to the Western reader, written in an English that’s completely new and invigorated by the Asian Indian influences of culture and language.” —Amazon.com

“This
story shows that sister relationships are often complex but never static, as
the ways life affects each character also makes the bond closer…The God of
Small Things is also an unforgettable portrait of family.” —BookRiot

Reviews

Reviews

Author

Author Bio: Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, as well as several nonfiction titles. She was trained as an architect and has worked as a production designer and screenwriter for two films.

Titles by Author

Details

Details

Format:

Digital Download

Format:

Digital Rental

Format:

CD

Format:

MP3 CD

Available Formats :

Digital Download, Digital Rental, CD, MP3 CD

Category:

Fiction/Literary

Publisher:

Blackstone Publishing

Publisher:

Blackstone Publishing

Publisher:

Blackstone Publishing

Publisher:

Blackstone Publishing

Tracks:

23

Tracks:

23

CDs:

9

CDs:

1

Runtime:

11.75

ISBN:

9781538407684

ISBN:

9781538407691

ISBN:

9781538407660

ISBN:

9781538407677

Audience:

Adult

Language:

English

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